Agecroft
Richmond’s Agecroft is a large manor house influenced by the Tudor and early Stuart periods. The estate is important for its architectural splendor and gardens and as a reflection of the social and aesthetic ideals of Virginia’s upper class citizens in the 1920’s. They appreciated Anglo-Saxon heritage and saw themselves as heirs of the landed gentry.
Originally built in Lancashire, England in the late 15th century, Agecroft Hall was for several centuries the dignified home of England's aristocratic Langley and Dauntesey families. At the end of the 19th century, the estate fell into disrepair. The property sold at auction in 1925 to the high bidder, Thomas C. Williams, Jr. of Richmond, who ambitiously had it dismantled, crated, and shipped across the ocean. Between 1926 and 1928, he had the central portion of the originally sprawling building reassembled in Richmond’s west end in the prosperous Windsor Farms neighborhood. Its present-day setting on rolling bluffs above the James River is said to be reminiscent of the original site on Lancashire's Irwell River.
Although not a reconstruction, the grand Tudor Revival house incorporates many of the decorative features and some of the structural elements of the original Agecroft Hall and a stairway from 16th century Warwick Priory, another English house. The building boasts a Great Hall with a large leaded-glass window transported intact from England. The ornately paneled wood interior has carved staircases, a 1610 lantern clock, and paintings and furnishings dating from 1485 to 1660 that include a 1566 portrait of William Dauntesey and a 17th-century painted wood bedstead.
The grounds around Agecroft are as appealing to visitors as the building itself. Noted American landscape architect Charles Gillette designed the site, which embodies both the order and splendor of English gardens. The pond garden at England's Hampton Court Palace provided inspiration for the sunken garden full of blooming annuals. According to Agecroft’s website, “A walk through these gardens feels much like a stroll back in time, with elaborately clipped herbs of the knot garden, a collection of exotic plants once recorded by John Tradescant the Younger, and a living exhibit of medicinal, flavoring and aromatic plants.”
Agecroft is located at 4305 Sulgrave Road in Windsor Farms, a short drive from downtown Richmond with convenient access from Interstates 95 and 64. The house and gardens are open to the public for a fee Tuesday –Saturday 10:00pm to 4:00pm, Sunday 12:30 to 5:00pm (closed on Mondays and national holidays). The admission charge includes an introductory film and guided tour of the museum (garden tours are self-guided). Reduced admission fees are available for seniors, children, and students. Group tours and educational tours may be scheduled by appointment. Call 804-353-4241. Visit the Agecroft Hall and Gardens website for more information.
Information and photos courtesy of the National Register for Historic Places Richmond, VA Travel Itinerary, a subsidiary of the National Park Service.
